Abstract: This paper reveals the ancient
Pallava Dynasty of Dravidia to be of the Iranic race, and as constituting
a branch of the Pahlavas, Parthavas or Parthians of Persia. It uncovers
the consequent Iranic foundations of Classical Dravidian architecture. It
also describes a short history of the Pallavas of Tamil Nadu, including
the cataclysmic 100-Years' Maratha-Tamil War. The modern descendants of
Pallavas discovered amongst the Chola Vellalas of northern Tamil Nadu and
Reddis of Andhra. (Some names in this text are garbled. The Word document
characters could not be converted.)

1. Pallavas,
Pahlavas, Parthavas, Parthians and
Persians

1.1. Introduction

The Pallava Empire was the largest and most powerful
South Asian state in its time, ranking as one of the glorious empires of
world history. At its height it covered an area larger than France,
England and Germany combined. It encompassed all the present-day Dravidian
nations, including the Tamil, Telugu, Malayali and Kannada tracts within
its far-flung borders.

The foundations of classical Dravidian architecture were
established by these powerful rulers, who left behind fantastic sculptures
and magnificent temples which survive to this very day. Initially, the
similarity of the words "Pallava" and "Pahlava" had
led 19th-century researchers to surmise an Iranic origin for the Pallavas.
Since then, a mountain of historical, anthropological, and linguistic
evidence has accumulated to conclusively establish that the Pallavas were
of Parthian origin.

1.2. Occurrence of Parsas across the world

The wide occurrence of the Iranic root-word Par in
various place-names proves the dispersion of the Pars or Persians across
much of Asia in ancient times. Thus, Persia, Persepolis, Pasargadae
("Gates of Parsa") and "Parthaunisa (ancient city, Parthia)"
or Nisa (Enc. Brit., vol.9, p.173) are all constructed from the ancient
Iranic root-word Pars.

In this regard, the learned Prof. Waddell notes in his
masterpiece The Makers of Civilization: "Barahsi or Parahsi
[of Akkadian inscriptions] now transpires to be the original of the
ancient Persis province of the Greeks, with its old capital at Anshan or
Persepolis, the central province of Persia to the East of Elam and the
source of our modern names of 'Persia' and 'Parsi'. And it is another
instance of the remarkable persistence of old territorial names"
(Waddell 1929, p.216).

The Parsumas mentioned in Assyrian annals are
also generally identified with the Persians, and the Zoroastrian Parsis of
Maharashtra are clearly of Persic descent. Moreover, the word Parthian is
itself derived from Parsa, as the Encyclopedia Britannica notes:
"The first certain occurrence of the name is as Parthava in the
Bisitun inscription (c.520 BC) of the Achaemenian king Darius I, but Parthava
may be only a dialectal variation of the name Parsa (Persian)."
(Enc.Brit. Vol.9, p.173)

Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard University has
further identified the Parnoi as the Pani mentioned in the Vedas:

"Another North Iranian tribe were the (Grk.) Parnoi,
Ir. *Parna. They have for long been connected with another
traditional enemy of the Aryans, the Paṇi (RV+). Their Vara-like
forts with their sturdy cow stables have been compared with the
impressive forts of the Bactria-Margiana (BMAC) and the eastern Ural
Sintashta cultures (Parpola 1988, Witzel 2000), while similar ones are
still found today in the Hindukush." (Witzel 2001, p.16)

Thus, the Persians, Parthians, Pashtos, Panis and
Perizzites are all offhoots of the ancient proto-Persians. This testifies
to the achievements of the Persian branch of the Iranic race in civilizing
and colonizing Southern Asia. All this, of course, is well known and the
subject of numerous books (cf, eg. Derakhshani 1999). Less famous is the
fact that the magnificent Pallava Dynasty of Southern India was also of
Iranic descent.

1.3. Pahlava History in Iran

The Pahlavas made important contributions to Iranian
civilization. The modern Farsi tongue is derived from the Old Parthian
language, as noted by the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Of the
modern Iranian languages, by far the most widely spoken is Persian, which,
as already indicated, developed from Middle Persian and Parthian, with
elements from other Iranian languages such as Sogdian, as early as the 9th
century AD." (Enc.Brit.vol.22, p.627) Furthermore, "Middle
Persian [Sassanian Pahlava] and Parthian were doubtlessly similar enough
to be mutually intelligible." (Enc.Brit.22.624); a statement which
further confirms the identity of the Pahlavas and the Parthians.

Moreover, the Pahlava alphabet is the ancestor of the
Sasanian Persian alphabet: "The Pahlava alphabet developed from the
Aramaic alphabet and occurs in at least three local varieties:
northwestern, called Pahlavik or Arsacid; southwestern, called Parsik or
Sasanian, and eastern" (Enc.Brit. vol.9, p.62).

Some authorities seem to insist that it was the Semitic
Aramaic alphabet which gave birth to the Parthian alphabet. This is not
so; it was actually the Assyrian variant which developed into the Pahlava
characters, just as it was Assyrian art, not Aramaean, which inspired
later Achaemenid culture. The Achaemenid empire was in many ways the
successor-state of the Assyrian empire.

1.4. Pallavas of Dravidia as Pahlavis

The Pallavas are first attested in the northern part of
Tamil Nadu, precisely the geographical region expected for an invading
group. This, together with the evident phonetic similarity between the
words "Pallava" and "Pahlava", has long led
researchers to advocate a Parthian origin of the Pallavas:

"Theory of Parthian origin: The exponents of this
theory supported the Parthian origin of the Pallavas. According to this
school, the Pallavas were a northern tribe of Parthian origin
constituting a clan of the nomads having come to India from Persia.
Unable to settle down in northern India they continued their movements
southward until they reached Kanchipuram5. The late Venkayya
supported this view 6 and even attempted to determine the
date of their migration to the South. A crown resembling an elephant's
head was issued by the early Pallava kings and is referred to in the
Vaikunthaperumal temple sculptures at the time of Nandivarman
Pallavamalla's ascent to the throne. A similiar crown was in use by the
early Bactrian kings in the 2nd century BC and figures on the coins of
Demetrius. It is presumed on this basis that there is some connection
between the Pallavas of Kanchi and Bactrian kings. [5. Mysore Gazetteer,
I. p.303-304; 6. ASR {Ann.Rep.ASI), 1906-1907, p.221 ]." (Minakshi
1977, p.4)

As Venkayya notes,

"[T]he Pallavas of Kāñcīpuram
must have come originally from Persia, though the interval of time which
must have elapsed since they left Persia must be several centuries. As
the Persians are generally known to (p.220) Indian poets under the name
Pārasīka, the term Pahlava or Pallava must denote the
Arsacidan Parthians, as stated by Professor Weber." (Venkayya
1907, p.219-220)

"The word Pahlava, from which the name Pallava
appears to be derived, is believed to be a corruption of Pārthava,
Pārthiva or Pārthia, and Dr. Bhandarkar calls the
Indo-Parthians Pahlavas. The territories of the Indo-Parthians lay in
Kandahar and Seistan, but extended during the reign of Gondophares
(about AD 20 to 60) into the Western Punjab and the valley of the lower
Indus. The Andhra king Gotamiputra, whose dominions lay in the Dakhan,
claims to have defeated about AD 130 the Palhavas along with the Śakas
and Yavanas. In the Junāgaḍh inscription of the
Kṣatrapa king Rudradāman belonging to about AD 150, mention
is made of a Pallava minister of his named Suviśākha." (Venkayya
1907, p.218)

2. Evidence for Parthian Descent of Pallavas

A whole mountain of evidence from various fields of science
support the Parthian, and hence Iranic, origin of the Pallavas. It would
be of interest to summarise the evidence here.

2.1. Archaeology

Archaeologists note the occurrence of oblong earthenware
coffins in sites coinciding with the region of Pallava hegemony:

"Oblong earthenware sarcophagi, both mounted
and unmounted, have been reported from several sites in S. India from
Maski in the North to Puduhotta in the South. Their distribution in what
was during historical period the region of Pallava hegemony is not
without significance in the light of a Parthian origin of the
Pallavas suggested by Heras (Heras, H.J.: Origin of the Pallavas, J. of
the Univ. of Bombay, Vol. IV, Pt IV, 1936) and afterwards by
Venkatasubba Iyer ("A new link between the Indo-Parthians and
Pallavas of Kanchi", J. of Indian History, Vol. XXIV, Pts 1
& 2, 1945).

2.2. Administration

Pallava administration was based on the Maurya pattern,
which was in turn based on that of the Achaemenid Empire.

"[T]he early Pallava kings issued their charters in
Prakrit and Sanskrit and not in Tamil and their early administration was
based on the Mauryan-Satavahana pattern, essentially northern in
character. Their gotra (Bharadvaja) also stands in the way of their
identification with the Kurumbar who had no gotra claims." (Minakshi
1977, p.5)

2.3. Dress

The dress of the Pallavas is cleary Parthian. Thus, Nair
notes,

A possible link between the Parthians and the
Pallavas is the mode of tying the waist-band as evidenced by their
statuary (compare the knot in Pallava waist-band with knot in Parthian
waist-band ...)" (Nair 1977, p.85)

The entire city of Mamallapuram or Mahamallapuram in
Tamil Nadu is named after the Pallava King Mahamalla who is celebrated as
the founder of this city. This original Prakrit name "Mahamallapuram"
was later corrupted in the Sanskrit into "Mahabalipuram". In
this regard, Venkayya notes the origin of the name "Mamallapuram":

"[I]n ancient Cōḍa inscriptions found at
the Seven Pagodas, the name of the place is Māmallapuram which is
evidently a corruption of Mahāmallapuram, meaning `the city or town
(p.234) of Mahāmalla.' I have already mentioned the fact that Mahāmalla
occurs as a surname of the Pallava king Narasiṁhavarman I in a
mutilated record at Bādāmi in the Bombay Presidency. It is
thus not unlikely that Mahāmallapuram or Māvalavaram was
founded by the Pallava king Narasiṁhavarman, the contemporary and
opponent of the Calukya Pulikēśin II., whose accession took
place about AD. 609. Professor Hultzsch is of opinion that the earliest
inscriptions on the rathas are birudas of a king named
Narasiṁha. It may, therefore, be concluded that the village was
originally called Mahāmallapuram or Māmallapuram, after the
Pallava king Narasiṁhavarman I., and that the earliest rathas
were cut out by him." (Venkayya 1907, p.233-234)

Surviving contemporary sculptures of this celebrated
King Mamalla depict him wearing a typical cylindrical Iranian head-dress:

2.4. Prakrit Language

The Pallavas initially propagated Prakrit, a language
containing a much higher percentage of Indo-European words compared to
Sanskrit as it represented a later, and hence purer, heliolatric
Indo-European invasion. "These three Prākṛt grants prove
that there was a time when the court language was Prākṛt even
in Southern India." (Venkayya 1907, p.223) That they initially did
not propagate Sanskrit or Tamil is significant as it rules out a Vedic or
Dravidian origin for the Pallavas.

2.5. Toponyms and Personal Names

Evidence from toponyms (place-names) corroborates the
Iranic origin of Pallavas. For instance, the Pallavas named a city in
Tamil Nadu as Menmatura or Men-Matura, after Mithra, the ancient Iranic
Sun-God, formed from tbe consonantal root MTR. The large town in southern
Tamil Nadu, Madurai, is named after the Sun-temple city of Mathura in Oudh,
which is also based on "Mithra". Further, the Pallavas had a
fondness for Iranic Prakrit personal names such as Ashoka:

"In the Kāśākuḍi plates, Aśōkavarman
is referred to as the son of king Pallava. Here Aśōkavarman is
evidently a reminiscence of the Maurya emperor Aśōka who lived
long before the Pallavas." (Venkayya 1907, p.240, footnote 8).

The Pallavas thus sought to emulate the Maurya kings,
who were of Iranic origin (Spooner 1915, p.406ff). It is important to note
that the Iranic root-word "Mor" occurs all across the Iranian
world: consider the "Mardian" tribe of Persians mentioned by
Herodotus; "the Avestan name Mourva, the Marga of the Achaemenian
inscriptions" (Spooner 1915, p.406), and the city of Merv, also known
as "Merw, Meru or Maur", whose inhabitants are known as "Marga
and Mourva" (ibid.), the legendary "Meru" mountain, the
"Amorites" or "Amurru" of Syria and Palestine who
possessed an Iranic ruling caste, the "Amu-Darya" river, "Amol"
town just south of the Caspian, "Marwar" in Rajputana, the Oudh
towns of "Mor-adabad" and "Meerut", the "Maurya"
dynasty of Ashoka, and the "Marut" warriors in India.

2.6. Official Symbolism

To this evidence we may add that the Pallavas had as
their crest the lion, just as the Achaemenids carved lions at Persepolis.
Describing the cave at Siyamangalam, Venkayya notes:

"This was excavated by king Laḷitāṅkura,
ie. Mahēndravarman I. and was called Avanibhājana-Pallavēśvara,
Ep.Ind., Vol.VI, p.320. I recently inspected the cave and the two
inscriptions found in it. The two outer pillars of the cave on which
they are engraved also bear at the top a well-executed lion (one on each
of the two pillars) with the tail folded over its back. The tail
resembles that of the lion figured in No.54, Plate II. of Sir Walter
Elliot's Coins of Southern India, which has been attributed to
the Pallavas. It has therefore to be concluded that the lion was the
Pallava crest at some period or other of their history." (Venkayya
1907, p.232, ftn.6)

2.7. Anthropology

The depictions of Pallava nobles on sculptures further
confirms their Iranic origin, for they are depicted as tall and
dolichocephalic (long-headed) along with clearly Iranic features.

Fig.3: Court Scene, Mamallapuram 7th century AD (Pallava)
Note the long-headedness and leptorrhine (long and thin)
nose of the surrounding Iranic courtiers. Contrast this with
the platyrrhine (flat) nose, thick lips and Negroid features
of the Dravidian God Shiva standing with his bull in the
centre. Note clear Persepolitan influence on the pillars.
(Image by Michael D. Gunther)

The long-headedness of these sculptures rules out an
Outer Indo-Aryan origin for the Pallavas, while their leptorrhine noses
rule out a Dravidian origin.

2.8. Architecture

The architecture of the Pallavas was clearly based on
Iranian forms, down to the last detail. Pillars especially were copies of
Persepolitan originals (see Fig.4 and Fig.3).

The traditional genealogy of the Pallavas also points to
their Parthian origins:

"One point which might be taken as proof of the
foreign origin of the Pallavas has to be noted here. The indigenous
Kṣatriya tribes (or at least those which were looked upon as such)
belonged either to the solar or to the lunar race. For instance, the Cōḷas
belonged to the solar race and the Pāṇḍyas to the
lunar. The Cēras seem to have belonged to the solar race. The
Calukyas - both the Eastern and Western - were of the lunar race. The Rāṣṭrakūṭas
were also of the same race. On the other hand, the Pallavas trace their
descent from the god Brahma but not from the Sun or the Moon, though
they are admitted to have been Kṣatriyas. Besides, none of the
ancient kings mentioned in the Purāṇas figures in the
ancestry of the Pallavas. The indigenous tribes, however, always traced
their ancestry from some of the famous kings known from the Purāṇas.
The Cōḷas, for instance claimed Manu, Ikṣvāku, Māndhātr,
Mucukunda and Śibi; the Pāṇḍyas were descended
from the emperor Purūravas; the C ēras had Sagara, Bhagiratha,
Raghu, Daśaratha and Rāma for their ancestors. The Calukyas
had a long list of Purāṇic sovereigns in their ancestry. The
Rāṣṭrakūṭas were descendants of Yadu and
belonged to the Sātyaki branch or clan. The Gaṅga kings of
Kaliṅganagara were descended from the Moon and claimed Purūravas,
Āyus, Nahuṣa, Yayāti and Turvasu for their ancestors. (Ind.
Ant. Vol. XVIII, p.170). The Western Gaṅgas of Taḷakāḍ
were apparently of the solar race and had Ikṣvāku for their
ancestor (Mr Rice's Mysore Gazetteer, Vol.I, p.308). The only
king mentioned in the mythical genealogy of the Pallavas is Aśōkavarman,
son of king Pallava , who, as Prof. Hultzsch rightly suspects, is
probably "a modification of the Maurya emperor Aśōka"
(South Ind. Inscrs. Vol.II, p.342). No doubt the earliest Pallava
records were found in the Kistna delta. But this cannot be taken to
point to an indigenous origin of the family. All these facts together
raise the presumption that the Pallavas of Southern India were not an
indigenous tribe in the sense that the Cōḷas, Pāṇḍyas
and Cēras were." (Venkayya 1907, p.219, footnote 5)

The above evidences, taken together rather than singly,
provide almost conclusive proof of the Parthian origin of Pallavas.

3. History of the Pallavas

3.1. Early History: Adoption of Dravidian Culture

After immigrating from Parthia, the Pallavas settled
down in the Andhra region. From here they entered northern Tamil Nadu.
Initially, the Pallava Empire was restricted to
Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam, the northern part of Tamil Nadu:
"It thus appears that the Pallava dominions included at the time [Sivaskandavarman,
beg. 4th century AD] not only Kāñcipuram and the surrounding
province but also the Telugu country as far north as the river
Kṛṣṇā." (Venkayya 1907, p.222) Subsequently,
the Pallavas expanded to conquer large parts of Andhra:

"The Pallava dominions probably comprised at the
time [5th-6th centuries AD] the modern districts of (p.225) Nellore,
Guntur, Kistna, Kurnool and perhaps also Anantapur, Cuddapah, and
Bellary. The Kadambas of Banavāsi, who were originally Brāhmaṇas,
threatened to defy the Pallavas." (Venkayya 1907, p.224-225)

Tamil poets described the boundaries of
Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam as follows:

"According to the Toṇḍamaṇḍala-śatakam,
Toṇḍamaṇḍalam (ie. the Pallava territory) was
bounded on the north by the Tirupati and Kālahasti mountains; on
the south by the river Pālār; and on the west by the Ghauts
(Taylor's Catalogue, Vol.III, p.29). A verse attributed to the
poetess Auvaiyār describes Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam
as the country bounded by the Pavaḷamalai, ie. the Eastern Ghauts
in the west; Vēṅgaḍam, ie. Tirupati in the north; the
sea to the east; and Piṇāgai, ie. the Southern Pennar in the
south. The greatest length of the province is said to be full 20 kādam
or nearly 200 miles.... A variant of the name
Toṇḍai-maṇḍalam is Daṇḍaka-nāḍu,
which is apparently derived from the Sanskrit Daṇḍakāraṇya,
ie the forest of Daṇḍaka mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa
and the Purāṇas." (Venkayya 1907, p.222, footnote 2)

After settling in Tondai-mandalam, the Pallavas rapidly
adopted the Dravidian culture, religion and language of their subjects.
This case was not unique in history; there are many examples of ruling
classes adopting the culture of those they ruled: consider the Hellenic
Ptolemies in Egypt, the Paleo-Siberian Manchus in China, the Germanic
Lombards in Italy, the Nordic Visigoths in Spain, the Mongol Il-Khans in
Persia, the French-speaking Normans in England, and the Germanic
Carolingians, Merovingians, Burgundians and Franks of France. Thus, the
Pallavas adopted the Old Tamil language and the Dravidian religion of
Shaivism and became vigorous promoters of Dravidian culture.

3.2. Expansion of the Pallava Empire

From its nucleus in Tondaimandalam, the Pallava Empire
expanded in all directions. The Pan-Dravidian nature of the Pallava empire
is manifested through the extent of their dominions. Thus, the Pallavas
vanquished the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas and conquered their territories,
uniting Tamil Nadu, Malabar, Karnadu and Telingana into one giant empire:

"The earliest king of this series is
Siṁhaviṣṇu, who claims to have vanquished the Malaya,
Kalabhra, Mālava, Cōḷa and Pāṇḍya
kings, the Siṁhala king proud of the strength of his arms and the
Kēralas." (Venkayya 1907, p.227)

This was the first pan-Dravidian empire in history. Perhaps
they were able to unite the Dravidian nations precisely because they were
outsiders, and hence did not possess any history of feuding with local
clans. Thus, we find the Pallavas conquering all the three mutually
warring Pandya, Cola and Cera kingdoms:

"The Cēra, Cōḷa and Pāṇḍya
kingdoms of the south are mentioned already in the edicts of the Maurya
emperor Aśōka. Of their subsequent history, almost nothing is
known from the epigraphical records, until we get to the period of
Pallava rule, when all the three figure among the tribes conquered by
the Pallavas." (Venkayya 1907, p.237)

After consolidating their rule over the Dravidian nations,
the Pallavas extended their empire to South-East Asia:

"The Pallavas were the emperors of the Dravidian
country and rapidly adopted Tamil ways. Their rule was marked by
commercial enterprise and a limited amount of colonization in South-East
Asia, but they inherited rather than initiated Tamil interference with
Ceylon." (Enc.Brit. Vol.9, p.89)

However, the exact extent of Pallava colonization in
South-East Asia is not clear due to paucity of sources. Even so, the
Pallava Empire was the largest South Asian state of its age, and served as
the model for future pan-Dravidian empires such as that built by the
Cholas.

3.3. The 100-Years' Maratha-Tamil War (AD 634-747)
& Decline

The Indian equivalent of Europe's Anglo-French
100-Years' War was the prolonged conflict between Marathas and Tamils
under the Chalukyas and Pallava dynasties which lasted well over a
century.

"The history of this period consists mainly of
the events of the war with the Calukyas which lasted almost a century 7
(footnote 7: The war apparently began with the Eastern campaign of Pulikēśin
II. which must have taken place some time before AD 634-5 (Ep.Ind.,
Vol.VI, p.3). The last important event of the war is the invasion of Kāñci
by the Calukya king Vikramāditya II, who reigned from AD 733-4 to
746-7. Kirtivarman II, son of Vikramaditya II, also claims to have led
an expedition in his youth against the Pallavas. ... ) and which seems
to have been the ultimate cause of the decline and downfall of both the
Pallavas and Calukyas about the middle of the 8th century." (Venkayya
1907, p.226)

At this point, we may note Mr. Rice's hypothesis that
the Calukyas were Seleucids:

"Mr. Rice says: `The name Calukya bears a suggestive
resemblance to the Greek name Seleukeia, and if the Pallavas were really
of Parthian connection, as their name would imply, we have a plausible
explanation of the inveterate hatred which inscriptions admit to have
existed between the two, and their prolonged struggles may have been but
a sequel of the contests between the Seleucidæ and the Arsacidæ on the
banks of the Tigris and Euphrates.' (Mysore, Vol.I, p.320)" (Venkayya
1907, p.226, footnote 6)

However, Mr. Rice's suggestion has not been accepted by
other historians, and is merely a phonetic coincidence, for there is no
other evidence of any connection whatsoever between the Calukyas and
Seleucids.

Historians have found several reasons for explaining the
bitterness of the Maratha-Dravidian wars. Venkayya notes the religious
aspect of the conflict, with the Vaishnava Marathas on one side and the
Dravidian Shaivites on the other:

"No satisfactory explanation has, so far, been
offered for this natural enmity between the Pallavas and Calukyas. It is
possible that the hatred had a religious basis. The Pallavas were Śaivas
and had the bull for their crest, while the Calukyas were devotees of
the god Viṣṇu and had the bear for their crest." (Venkayya
1907, p.226, footnote 6)

Shaivism and Vaishnavism are poles apart in all details of
theology. Vaishnavites revere the cow, Shaivites slaughter the cow but
worship the bull; Vaishnavites uphold the four-fold caste system,
Shaivites oppose the caste system tooth and nail; later Vaishnavism
upholds the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmans, Shaivism rejects the
Vedas and is anti-Brahmin. Thus, observers have noted that Vaishnavism and
Shaivism are like cat and mongoose, theologically destined to be locked in
an eternal war of opposites. Hence, religion played an important role in
exacerbating the hatred on both sides.

However, a far deeper reason contributed to the
conflict, namely that of ethnicity. Abstract theological formulae, on
account of their nebulous definition and easily modified nature, no doubt
hardly mattered to the great majority of inhabitants. Rather, it is race
and ethnicity which combined to make the Pallava-Chalukya conflict
especially bitter. Thus, the so-called Calukya-Pallava dynastic conflict
was in actual fact a racial Maratha-Dravidian war.

On the one hand were the Marathas speaking Outer
Indo-Aryan languages, of brachycephalic (round-headed) Turanoid race. The
survival of Burushaski - a language isolate linked with the Transcaucasian
and Finno-Ugric languages - in the Himalayas testifies to the immigration
of brachycephalic Turanian peoples into India. The Turanoid Maratha is
thus fair-skinned, short-statured and round-headed. On the other hand were
the long-headed and taller, black-skinned Dravidians of Sudanic Negroid
origin. The Dravidians, however, had a long-headed Iranic Pallava ruling
class. The Iranoid longheads are fairer and taller than the Dravidoid
longheads, who are in turn taller but darker than the Turanoid Outer
Indo-Aryan roundheads. Thus, racial differences no doubt played, along
with language and religion, a prominent role in the conflict.

At the outset of the 100-year Maratha-Tamil War, it is
the Marathas who gained the upper hand, defeating the Pallavas and driving
them from the Vengi delta area of Andhra. However, the Pallavas later
defeated the Maharashtrians and sacked their capital Vatapi, annexing it
to the Dravidian Empire:

"The son of Mahēndravarman I. was
Narasiṁhavarman I., who retrieved the fortunes of the family by
repeatedly defeating the Cōḷas, Kēralas, Kalabhras and Pāṇḍyas.
He also claims to have written the word `victory' as on a plate, on
Pulikēśin's back, which was caused to be visible (ie. which
was turned in flight after defeat) at several battles. Narasiṁhavarman
carried the war into Calukya territory and actually captured Vātāpi,
their capital. This claim of his is established by an inscription found
at Bādāmi in the Bombay Presidency - the modern name of Vātāpi
- from which it appears that Narasiṁhavarman bore the title Mahāmalla.
In later times, too, this Pallava king was known as Vātāpi-koṇḍa-Naraśiṅgappōttaraiyan.
Dr. Fleet assigns the capture of the Calukya capital to about AD 642.7 The war of Narasiṁhavarman with Pulkēśin II
is mentioned in the Singhalese chronicle Mahāvaṁsa. It is
also hinted in the Tamil Periyapurāṇam. The well-known saint
Śiṛuttoṇḍa, who had his only son cut up and
cooked in order to satisfy the appetite of god Śiva disguised as a
devotee, is said to have reduced to dust the city of Vātāpi
for his royal master, who could be no other than the Pallava king
Narasiṁhavarman.9 [footnote 9: Ep.Ind. Vol.III, p.277.
. Paramēśvaravarman I. also claims to have destroyed the
Calukya capital. A still later conquest of Vātāpi is also
known. It was effected by a Koḍumbāḷūr chief,
apparently during the second half of the 9th century. (Ann.Rep. on Epi.
for 1907-8, Part II, para.85)] The Śaiva saint Tiruñānasambandar
visited Śiṛuttoṇḍa at this native village fo
Tirucceṅgāṭṭaṅguḍi, and the Dēvāra
hymn dedicated to the Śiva temple of the village mentions the
latter and thus helps to fix the date of the former as well as of the
Śaiva revival of which he was the central figure." (Venkayya
1907, p.228)

Unsung and forgotten are the countless heroes on both
sides, their deeds and brave acts lost in the mist of time, yet heroes
they were nevertheless. Like the knights of the 100-Years' Anglo-French
War, the glorious warriors of the 100-Years' Maratha-Tamil War fought and
died for their homelands, strengthening these nations' foundations with
their blood and bones.

This 100-year Maratha-Tamil war had far-reaching
consequences, leading to the exhaustion of both the Maratha and Dravidian
states and sapping their vitality. These states started to decline after
the war. Ultimately, both the Calukya and Pallava states disappeared from
history.

3.4. Modern-Day Pallavas

After the Pallava Empire was annexed by the Chola Empire,
the Pallavas merged into the Tamil population:

"The Pallavas of the Tamil country seem to have
taken service under the Cōḷas after the Gaṅga-Pallavas
were conquered by Āditya about the end of the 9th century AD.
Karuṇākara Toṇḍaimāṇ, who, according
to the Tamil poem Kaliṅgattu-Paraṇi led the expedition
against Kaliṅga during the reign of Kulōttuṅga I. (AD
1070 to about AD 1118), was a Pallava and was the lord of
Vaṇḍai, ie. Vaṇḍalur in the Chingleput District.
Among the vassals of Vikrama-Cōḷa mentioned in the Vikkirama-Śōḷaṇ-ulā,
the Toṇḍaimāṇ figures first." (Venkayya
1907, p.241)

The Pudukkottai royal family is apparently descended from
the ancient Pallavas:

"In a Tanjore inscription belonging to a later
period, the name Toṇḍaimāṇ is applied to a local
chief named Sāmantanārāyana, who granted to Brāhmaṇas
a portion of the village of Karundiṭṭaiguḍi, the
modern Karattaṭṭāṅguḍi. Thus the name
Toṇḍaimāṇ actually travelled from the Pallava
into the Cōḷa country. There is therefore reason to suppose
that the Toṇḍaiman of Pudukkōṭṭai, who
bears the title Pallava Raja, is descended from the Pallavas, who form
the subject of this paper." (Venkayya 1907, p.242)

In addition to the royal family of Pudukkottai, other
groups are also probably descended from the Pallavas, such as the Reddis
of Andhra and some of the Kshatriya and Vaishya castes of northern Tamil
Nadu:

"We now have to examine if there are any Pallavas in
our midst beyond the royal family of Pudukkōṭṭai. The
Pallavas are believed to be identical with the Kurumbas, of whom the
Kurumbar of the Tamil country and the Kurubas of the Kanarese districts
and of the Mysore State may be taken as the living representatives. The
(p.243) kings of the Vijayanagara dynasty are also supposed to have been
Kurubas. In one of the inscriptions of the Tanjore temple belonging to
the 11th century, a certain Vēlāṇ Ādittaṇ is
called Pirāntaka-Pallavaraiyan, meaning "the chief of the
Pallavas of Parāntaka." Śēkkiḷār, the
author of the Tamil Periyapurāṇam, was a Veḷḷāḷa
by caste and got from his patron, the Cōḷa king Anapāya,
the title Uttamaśōḷa-Pallavarāyaṇ, meaning
"the chief of the Pallavas of Uttamaśōḷa."
Uttamaśōḷa and Parāntaka are titles of Cōḷa
kings and the word Pallava seems to be used in both of the titles as an
equivalent of Veḷḷāḷa, or the caste of
agriculturalists to which both of them belonged. In the Telugu
country, too, some of the Reḍḍis who belonged to the fourth
or cultivating caste, called themselves Pallava-Triṇētra and
Pallavāditya. Sir Walter Elliot has told us that Pallavarāja
is one of the thirty gōtras of the true Tamil-speaking
Veḷḷāḷas of Madura, Tanjore and Arcot. It is
borne by the Cōḷa Veḷḷāḷas inhabiting
the valley of the Kāvēri, in Tanjore, who lay claim to the
first rank. All these facts taken together seem to show that
there was some sort of connection between the cultivating caste and the
Pallavas in the Tamil as well as in the Telugu country. The available
evidence is, however, not sufficient to formulate the nature of this
connection. But it may tentatively be supposed that some of the Pallavas
settled down as cultivators soon after all traces of their sovereignty
disappeared. The other sections of the agricultural class were probably
proud of their association and considered it an honour to be looked uon
as Pallavas." (Venkayya 1907, p.242-243)

4.1. Iranic Origin of Dravidian Architecture

The Pallava foundations for Dravidian architecture is
universally accepted by scholars. For instance, a standard textbook on
World Architecture states, "Mahabalipuram, the five temples (rathas),
Pallava (7th century AD), are embryonic models of later Dravidian, or
Southern, temple styles." (Holberton, p.55). Confirming this view,
the Encyclopedia Britannica notes:

"The home of the South Indian style, sometimes
called the Dravida style, appears to be the modern state of Tamil Nadu
... The early phase, which, broadly speaking, coincided with the
political supremacy fo the Pallava dynasty (c.650-893), is best
represented by the important monuments at Mahabalipuram."
(Enc.Brit., Vol.27, p.767)

Suthanthiran summarises the views of various eminent
scholars:

"The prototypes of later developed Kopurams are
found in the Pallava period. There are different views regarding the
proto-types. Heinrich Zimmer was of the view that the Pimaratam is the
earliest prototype of the Kopurams. Raghavendra Rao says that the
finished oblong plan and the two storeyed waggon roof of Kanesaratam is
the prototype of all South Indian Kopurams ... A.H.Longhurst says that
the Kailasanatha temple entrance Tavaracalai is the proto-type of all
later Kopurams." (Suthanthiran 1989, p.30)

Venkayya agrees with the Pallavite origin of Dravidian
architecture:

"We now enter into a period of Pallava
history for which the records are more numerous. The facts available for
this period are definite and the chronology is not altogether a field of
conjecture and doubt. The earliest stone monuments of Southern India
belong to this period. In fact, the foundations of Dravidian
architecture were laid by the earlier kings of this series.5
(footnote 5: The monolithic caves of the Tamil country were excavated by
the Pallava king Mahēndravarman I. The rathas at the Sevan
Pagodas probably come next. The temples of Kaliēsanētha and
Vaikuṇṭha-Perumal at Kañcīpuram and the Shore temple
at the Sevan Pagodas have probably to be taken as later developments of
Pallava architecture.)" (Venkayya 1907, p.226)

One of the gems of Pallava architecture is the
Kailashanatha temple, which was also known as Rajasimha-Pallavesvara in
ancient times (Venkayya 1907, p.234, footnote 3).

Fig.5: Stupendous Granite Kailasanatha temple
(formerly Rājasiṁhēśvara),
Tamil Nadu, view from NW, c.695-722 AD. Central shrine built by Rājasiṁha
(Venkayya 1907, p.230). Note the Iranic vaulted-barrel cupola similar to
Sassanian arch at Ctesiphon and the Babylonian-style step-pyramid tower
or "Shikara". Longhurstholds that the Kailasanatha temple
entrance is the
proto-type of all later Gopurams. (Image courtesy Dr. Vandana Sinha,
American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon)

The pyramid-shaped tower or Shikara of the Kailashanatha
temple is strangely similar to Babylonian step-pyramids. Babylonia was an
integral part of the Parthian empire. While such innovations could have
been due to independant innovation, it is more likely that the Pallavas
were emulating Babylonian prototypes during the construction of
Kailasanatha.

The Pancha-ratha Pallava temple at Mamallapuram consists
of five temples, one having a Saka-Buddhist cupola, one an Egyptian-style
pyramid, and three having ziggurat-shaped roofs reminiscent of Sumer and
Babylon (cf. Fig.6) . This combination of designs is unlikely to have been
independantly invented without external stimulus. These influences could
only have come via Iran and the Pallavas, for the Parthians ruled over
Assyria and Babylonia.

4.2. Spread of Buddhism

The Pallavas played a major role in propagating the
religion of Buddhism. Buddha was known as Sakya-muni, Prakrit for
"Lord of the Scythians", and was an Iranian. Thus, there is
little surprise when we find Pallavas being the most ardent propagators of
Buddhism: "The sect of Buddhism preached in China by Buddha Varman, a
Pallava Prince of Kanchi came to be known as Zen Buddhism and it spread
later to Japan and other places." (Damodaran 1980, p.70). In other
words, Zen Buddhism, like its parent faith of Buddhism, was founded by an
Iranian, Buddha Varman.

4.3. Dravidian Shaivism

As noted above, the Pallavas rapidly adopted the indigenous
Dravidian religion of Shaivism, and became staunch propagators of the
faith. Scores of Shiva temples constructed by the Pallavas remain. While
the Pallavas, like the Achaemenids and Parthians, were religiously
tolerant, the devotion of some Pallava kings to Shaivism went so far that
they went to the extent of demolishing Jain temples:

"According to the Periyapurāṇam, the
saint Tirunāvukkaraśar (also called Appar), and elder
contemporary of Tiruñānasambandar, was first persecuted and
subsequently patronised by a Pallava king who is said to have demolished
the Jaina monastery at Pāṭaliputtiram and built a temple of
Śiva called Guṇadaravīccaram." (Venkayya 1907,
p.235)

By and large, however, the primordial tolerance of
Dravidian Shaivism manifested itself, absorbing the other faiths in due
course of time.

5. Refutation of Rival Theories on Origin of Parthians

Ayyar has summed up the various non-Parthian theories as
follows:

"Thus some scholars considered the Pallavas as of Chōḷa-Nāga
origin 2, [2. Ind.Ant. Vol. LII, pp.75-80.] indigenous
to the southern part of the Peninsula and Ceylon and having nothing to
do with Western Indian and Persia, while others placed their original
home in the Andhra country between the rivers Kṛishṇā
and Gōdāvarī; yet others connected them with the Mahārāshṭra
Āryans 3 [3. C.V.Vaidya: History of Mediaeval India,
Vol.1, p.281.] and the Imperial Vākāṭakas 4
[4. J.B.O.R.S., 1933, p.180ff.]" (Ayyar 1945, p.11)

We now turn to the three theories, namely Chola-Naga,
Andhra and Maharashtra Aryan origins.

5.1. Refutation of the Maharashtrian and Vakataka
Origin

The surviving sculptures in Tamil Nadu depict Pallavas as
tall and dolichocephalic (long-headed) (Fig.3), while the Marathas are
short-statured and brachycephalic (round-headed). Moreover, the Pallavas
were Shaivites, as opposed to the Maharastrians, who were adherents of the
Vaishnavite religion. Further, the Pallavas waged the brutal 100-year
Maratha-Tamil war against the Maratha Chalukyas. Had the Pallavas been
Maharashtrians, it is unlikely the conflict would have been so prolonged
and of such intensity. Thus, the Pallavas were almost certainly not of
Maharastrian origin. The slight Maharastrian influence amongst Pallavas is
to be attributed to their migration through Maharashtra on their way from
Persia to Tamil Nadu.

5.2. Refutation of alleged Vedic Origin

It is sometimes asserted that the Pallavas were of Vedic
origin. However, the Vedic and Puranic evidence itself contradicts this
view:

"The word Pallava is apparently the Sanskrit
form of the tribal name Pahlava or Pahṇava of the
Purāṇas. The Pahlavas are described as a northern or
north-western tribe1 (footnote 1: In chapter 9 of the Bhīṣmaparvan
of the Mahābhārata, the Pahlavas are mentioned among the
barbarians (mlēccha-jātayaḥ)) whose territory lay
somewhere between the river Indus and Persia." (Venkayya 1907,
p.217)

Furthermore,

"In the Harivaṃśa 4 (footnote
4: XIV. verses 15 to 19) the Pahnavas5 (footnote 5: In the Rāmāyana
(I.55, verse 18) the Pahlavas are said to have emanated from the
bellowing of the miraculous cow Nandini, which belonged to the sage
Vasiṣṭha.) are said to have been Kṣatriyas originally,
but become degraded in later times. They are mentioned here along with
the Śakas, Yavanas and Kāmbōjas and their chief
characteristic was the beard 6 (footnote 6: The beards of the
Westerns (ie. the Yavanas), are also mentioned by Kālidāsa in
his Raghuvaṁśa, IV, 63) which Sagara permitted them to
wear. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa , the Yavanas, Pahlavas
and Kāmbhōjas are said to have been originally Kṣatriya
tribes who became degraded by their separation from Brāhmaṇa
and their institutions.7 (footnote 7: Muir's Sanskrit
Texts, Vol.II, p.259, and Ind.Ant. Vol.IV, p.166). In Manu,
the Pahlavas are mentioned along with the Puṇḍrakas,
Draviḍas, Kāmbōjas, Yavanas, Śakas and other allied
tribes. These were all Kṣatriyas originally, but gradually became
degraded by their omission of the sacred rites and transgressing the
authority of the Brāhmaṇas." (Venkayya 1907, p.217)

Had the Pallavas been of Vedic origin, they would not be
cursed in this manner in the Brahmanic scripture. Moreover, the Pallavas
did not practice the custom of Vedic human sacrifice (purushamedha or
naramedha) and horse sacrifice (asvamedha). Nor did they permit sati
(widow-burning) or bride-burning. The Vedic and Brahmanic caste system was
also not supported. Also, the Pallavas in their earliest times promoted
Prakrit and not Sanskrit. Thus Venkayya notes, "The earliest known
records of the Pallavas are three Prākṛt copper-plate charters,
viz. (1) the Mayidavōlu plates of Śivaskandavarman, (2) the
Hirehaḍagalli plates of the same king and (3) the British Museum
plates of Cārudēvi." (Venkayya 1907, p.222) These facts
disprove the Vedic origin of the Pallavas.

5.3. Refutation of the Dravidian Origin

That the Pallavas were not Dravidians is evidenced from the
fact that their migration can be clearly traced via copper-plate grants as
being from the Telugu to the Tamil country. The Pallavas initially
promoted Prakrit, which also goes against the proposed Andhra origin of
Pallavas. Had they been Andhras, they would no doubt have propagated the
proto-Telugu Dravidian dialect.

In further opposition to the Dravidian origin of
Pallavas, Venkayya has fittingly asked why the Andhras should have adopted
a name which would lead to them being confused with the Pahlavas of
Persia.

"Why the indigenous tribe which was formed in the Gōdāvari
delta called itself Pallava, a name which would lead to their being
mistaken for being Palhavas of Western India is a question which, to my
mind, must be satisfactorily answered before the theory of indigenous
origin can be accepted." (Venkayya 1907, p.219, footnote 5)

However, the Pallavas rapidly adopted the indigenous
Dravidian religion of Shaivism and propagated it, just as the Germanist
Lombards accepted the Roman Catholicism of their Latin Italian subjects.
That the Pallavas were able to flourish in Dravidia is a testimony to
Dravidian tolerance and open-mindedness, a rare characteristic in those
days.

The remaining rival theories on the origins of the
Pallavas having been undermined, the Parthian origin of the Pallavas
remains as the sole logical alternative.

6. Consequences and Conclusion

The Parthian origin of the Pallavas was eagerly adopted
by virtually all schools of Dravidologists from the very beginning.
Formerly, Indo-European influence in Dravidian had been attributed solely
to Sanskrit. Anti-Sanskrit Dravidianists welcomed the Iranic origin of
Pallavas as it decreased the Sanskrit proportion in the Indo-European
component of Dravidian civilization. Indeed, certain votaries of this
school believe that Iranic influence in Dravidian is more important than
that of Sanskrit.

Dravidianist evangelists have in their turn used the
Pallava example to demand that the Tamil Brahmins adopt Dravidian culture.
Their chief argument is that, if the Pallavas from distant Persia could so
eagerly adopt Dravidian civilization, then why couldn't the local Tamil
Brahmins?

Multi-culturalist Dravidianists, meanwhile, upheld the
Pallavas as an example of ancient Dravidian tolerance and multi-culturalism.
The South Indian Brahminist school, which is also largely multi-culturalist
(often miscalled 'secularist') in character, has largely followed this
path as well. The political use - and abuse - of history goes on.

The Parthian origin of Pallavas also provides an
explanation for the presence of tall, fair-skinned members of non-Brahmin
castes in Tamil Nadu and other Dravidian states. Formerly attacked as
mixed-caste, part-Brahmin, offspring, it is observed that such persons are
at present claiming a Pallava-Parthian origin instead. This is certainly
true of certain Cholas, Vellalas and Reddis. Especially in case of those
fair individuals who are long-headed, a Pallavite origin is more plausible
than a mixed-Brahmin one, for the South Indian Brahmins are generally
round-heads. The Parthian theory of the origin of Pallavas has thus helped
a large number of people to be rehabilitated in Dravidian society.

It is hoped that Iranists will be inspired by this work
to carry out further research on the achievements of the enterprising
Pallavas in Dravidia, and bring to light the full scale of Iranic
influence in Dravidian civilization.

Author

Afsar Abbas is a professor at the Institute of
Physics, Bhubaneshwar, India

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Prof. Shireen Moosvi and
Prof. Irfan Habib (Aligarh) for their kind assistance with references. The
author is also very grateful to Prof. P. Oktor Skjærvø and Prof. Michael
Witzel (Harvard) for kindly sending important research material. Many
thanks to Fatema Soudavar Farmanfarmaian for fruitful discussions, and to
The Iranian for publishing this paper.

The author gratefully thanks Michael D. Gunther,
http://www.art-and-archaeology.com;
Dr. Vandana Sinha, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, http://www.indiastudies.org;
and Stewart Lane Ellington, http://stewellington.com for permission to
reproduce their wonderful images in this paper.